Archangel: A Tale of Ninja
by Steel-Eyed Saint
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki. Smiling, idiot, clown, always comes out on top due to perseverance. That is what he wants you to think. Naruto Uzumaki, uncaring ninja with the strangest, most powerful ability since the Rinnegan. That is the truth.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.

- Charles Dickens

* * *

><p>Kakashi was quite aware of the many dark, dirty little secrets that his students thought they had kept well.<p>

He knew that Sasuke held a picture of his family, Itachi and both parents, on his person at all times. He knew the photo was not defaced at all. He knew that the young avenger, despite all his claims to want nothing but his brother's death, would stare at it in solitude, eyes filled with profound longing.

He knew Sakura would sometimes look at Naruto with eyes almost admiring, and think he may deserve a chance. Then something would squash that idea and she would go back to beating the poor boy.

He knew that Naruto would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, screaming at unseen tormentors to leave him alone, how he had never done anything to them. That he would sometimes scream at Haku to not die, and how the young blond would the cry and curse the loss of his first true friend.

Kakashi had learned all these things through the observation he had done to his team. It was to be considered one of the jobs of all sensei to make sure their students were mentally fit for duty, and that meant learning habits, tendencies, mistakes, and everything else that made up a person. And while some of his kiddies pushed the envelope, he had concluded, along with the Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, that all of his pupils would manage to be sane ninja, or as close as anyone got to that phrase.

That being said, he knew Naruto Uzumaki was still hiding something from him.

He had begun to suspect there was something he did not know when the Hokage had advised Kakashi to focus most of his efforts on Sasuke and Sakura and to leave Naruto to his own devices outside of team exercises. That the old man was basically telling Kakashi to leave his surrogate grandson high and dry was a little shocking.

The second clue had been when they fought during the bell test. When he had fought Naruto and his clones, he had noticed something about the Uzumaki's movements. While reports from the Academy had said he was little better than the average tavern brawler, Kakashi had noticed a sort of crispness to his movements, how they were controlled and practiced. It was as if every movement was part of a style missing something. It was like he was fighting a samurai who had lost his sword, and was using a stick of bamboo in its place. Still somewhat dangerous, but only a fraction of what it had been. But if a samurai was missing a sword, then what the hell was Naruto missing?

Kakashi's third clue had come to him on Team 7's mission to Wave Country. He had gone back to investigate the area Naruto had trained in all night, as he wished to see how high the boy had managed on the tree. He had marked Naruto's progress, which had been impressive, and had started to head back, when he had noticed a feather upon the ground. While he would normally dismiss this to a local bird, the feather had been unlike any bird Kakashi had ever known off. It was the darkest black, and when Kakashi moved it in the light, it shimmered the darkest orange. The color had linked it to Naruto, and Kakashi kept the feather after soaking it in dishwashing soap, putting it in a sealed container with mothballs, and putting it in a bank vault. The feather had remained a mystery, even to several avian experts and enthusiasts.

Kakashi's fourth clue had been just yesterday, when Naruto had fought Kiba Inuzuka. When he had been preparing his new technique, just as Kiba had come up behind Naruto and been defeated by 'natural gas', the fabric under the back of Naruto's jacket had shifted slightly. It was as if there was an animal, a creature, _something, _had been straining to get out. Not only that, but for a second, Naruto seemed to get a little taller and a little more muscular. It was as if the blond had been transforming, but had stopped once he realized he could beat Kiba as he was. Kakashi expected he was the only one in the room with the correct vantage point to notice this, and it led Kakashi to believe that Naruto's new technique hadn't been the 'Naruto Uzumaki Barrage', despite how effective the attack had been.

The fifth clue had been how Naruto had reacted when he had been paired against Gaara for the final round. While most, like the rest of the Sand team, Iruka, and Kakashi himself had been terrified for the boy, Naruto had simply looked like he had resigned himself to something he'd like the to avoid.

And the final, most shocking clue that the blonde was denying one-on-one training from Kakashi. The energetic, lives-to-please Naruto. The happy-go-lucky, always eager to learn Naruto. This boy, who pestered Kakashi for training at least three times a day, was denying it! He was saying now to being trained by one of the most powerful Konoha ninja alive, right before fighting the closest thing to a human demon Kakashi had ever seen! Had the world gone mad?

"But, Naruto!" Kakashi near-shouted. "Your opponent will more than likely kill you! You saw what he did to Lee. How can you deny any help?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Cause while Sakura is out, Sasuke has some tough people to fight. He'll have to fight that Sound guy, then Shino, then Shikamaru or that Sand chick, then me. All I have to do is beat Gaara, then Neji or that puppet guy, then whoever wins the other branch."

Kakashi stared at Naruto, his mouth agape during his student's entire speech. "Maybe they are strong, but so is Sasuke! Meanwhile, you're against monsters! You saw what Neji did to Hinata! The fact that either have living opponents is a miracle! You'll need all the help you can get-"

"Kakashi, I know I'm outmatched. A month isn't long enough to bridge the gap." Naruto said, his tone cold enough and his words shocking enough to shut Kakashi up.

Kakashi recovered quickly this time. "Yes it is! Naruto, you'll die if you don't prepare, and I refuse to let that happen! I won't let you give up, either-"

"God, Kakashi!" Naruto said in an exasperated tone, rolling his eyes. "Shut up!"

Kakashi blinked, now really shocked by Naruto's behavior, and a little hurt by his words. Then, in a softer tone, Naruto said, "Thanks for the concern sensei, but there is really only one way for me to do this. Focus on Sasuke, and just trust me." Naruto then turned and began walking in the direction of the hotsprings, leaving behind him a confused Kakashi.

All these events had the Copycat wondering late into that night what his blond student was hiding from him. He swore, this boy was the oddest blond he'd known since his sensei.

* * *

><p>Hearing the footsteps of his godson, Jiraiya said, "So kid, I'm assuming you'll need help with that other Jinchuriki?" He did not look away from his peephole.<p>

Behind the white-haired man, Naruto answered, "Yeah, I can't beat him without leveling the arena and I'd rather not do that." He narrowed his eyes. "And could you look at me, you perv?" He wasn't paying attention himself, annoyed at himself for slipping with Kakashi and showing him part of what Naruto really was. Still, that tit-obsessed hermit didn't need to peep when he was talking to his godson

Jiraiya sighed and turned away from the many buxom beauties on the other side other fence before him and faced his godson. "Yes, yes, Naruto. I sometimes wonder if your abilities robbed you of your hormones."

Naruto smirked coldly. "Oh, really? I guess I can stop helping you write your books. Real shame, considering how the sales spiked when I came in…"

Jiraiya laughed quietly, avoiding alerting the women he had been peeping on. "I'd rather you didn't. The third book is projected to actually break the standard best sellers list, not just the naughty one. Anyways, I can help you. From what I know of the way the Ichibi is sealed, it shouldn't be too hard to make you a little something-something to knock him down for the count. You just need to slap it on the container's seal, and you'll be good to go."

"What'll it do, cut off Gaara's access to the Ichibi's chakra?" Naruto asked in the same cold tone. While he had spent more time on his own abilities, he had always been interested in the intricacies of fuinjutsu. A sealing master was so rare, after all. Rare enough that few could fight them effectively.

"Not quite." Jiraiya said. "It'll limit it enough to where you can safely knock the kid unconscious. I should have it to you in a week or so."

Naruto nodded, his expression still cold, aloof, and uncaring, as it always was around. "That'll be good. Listen, I know wind isn't your specialty, but do you have any new jutsu for me?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nothing you haven't already made your own versions of. But I do have this book on air currents, if you interested, one on sealing, and one on birds." The pervert pulled out three books, two of them medium-sized and one that Naruto knew was the kind with a thousand paged, double-colum minute print book.

Naruto took all three and nodded in thanks. Jiraiya nodded too, then got a sort of pained look on his face. "Listen kid, I know I can't make up all the years I was gone. I just didn't think you'd live to see one if Iwa knew I was traveling with a blond kid..."

There was silence for a few moments after Jiraiya trailed off, then Naruto spoke in a tone that was less cold, and more resigned. "Jiraiya, you know you blame yourself more than I blame you. You're a good man, and you did your best. Don't think I don't know who payed for my apartment before I was a ninja, and I know who you've left your fortune to. I would be dead had you taken me with you, you're right about that. I don't blame you, I don't blame my father. I barely blame Sarutobi, and only because he made the mistake of telling the village of my status. Even then, you all did what you thought was best. Being angry at you all is pointless, a waste. You know I don't waste."

Jiraiya looked sad. "But you still blame the entire village for the choices of the majority."

Naruto's eyes hardened, and his tone returned to ice. With a small sneer of disgust adorning his face, he said, "You don't think I should?"

"No, you have every right to." The toad sage sighed, putting up his hands in an appeasing gesture. Then, he shook head in a morose manner, trying to keep tears from his eyes. "But I just wish you could still see the good in the world."

There was some more silence, then Naruto turned and left the sannin to regret the decisions he had made. Once his footfalls were gone, the only sounds came from Jiraiya's tears of loss and self-hatred hitting the ground.

* * *

><p>Two days passed in the first week of the interim month, and Naruto stood on the ledge outside the window of Hinata Hyuga's hospital room. He stared at the girl as she slept, still as a statue. The only noise came from the beeping of the machine she was hooked up to. While it may look different, as the girl was already filling out quite nicely, the boy was there for reasons far from peeping.<p>

_'I never go back on my word, because that is my nindo, my ninja way!'_

So many times had Naruto shouted this phrase while hiding his ability under the mask of a foolish prankster. He did believe it, though. He would not be like the many people that had lied, had been kind to him, only to do him harm. He would not be like the little girl, his bitch of a crush, and… Her.

But why the hell was Hinata Hyuga spouting his own way of life herself?

Why was she saying that was her nindo? Why was she being like him? During the exams, he had allowed himself to get caught up in the idea that someone admired him. He had cheered her on, he had urged her to fight, and he had sworn he would avenge her when she lost.

He cursed himself for his foolishness.

Now with a clearer mind, he realized the girl was more than likely finally making her move. Despite the beliefs of many, including those who knew the real him, he was aware of her crush. For the longest time her had written it off as simply a schoolgirl's fancy.

But she had persisted. After they had become genin and she'd continued her pursuit of him, he'd spent some time trying to discern her motives. It could have been just a particularly powerful infatuation, but that seemed too simply. She could have genuinely cared, but he was far past truly believing something so fairytale. The heiress of the Hyuuga clan and the village pariah? Hardly.

It had then occurred to him her real plan. He knew the supposed secret that ran the gossip mills; how Hinata Hyuuga had been rejected as the next clan head because of her perceived weakness, that they were simply awaiting the point where Hanabi Hyuuga was old enough to formally replace her elder sister.

Hinata Hyuuga was said to want nothing more than her father's approval – as well as his love, according to rumors, the blond reminded himself. It would be easy to get this if she did something of immense value for the clan; get rid of the village pariah. She would get them alone, she would start to cry, she would rip up her clothes, Hyuuga would storm in, and he'd have kidnapping and attempted rape charges to deal with. It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened after all. Never with a clan as powerful as the Hyuuga though. No, Naruto would not escape this alive, with or without Sarutobi's protection. Or even better, she would actually marry him. To the village, to the hokage, to Naruto himself, it would look like a perfect example of beauty and her beast. To Hiashi Hyuuga, it would be the jinchuriki of the most powerful bijuu under his thumb. Content with this theory, he had decided, roughly since a week after his mission to Wave, he would ignore her.

Yet still, for a moment, in that arena as he watched her fight for her life by the principles that guided him, he had believed. He had allowed himself to once more entertain theories of love and attachment. He had been so caught off guard, and part of him so desperate still for affection to fill the void still in his heart he had thought…

Could she love him, care for him?

He had expelled these thoughts from his head, he put up his barriers once more. He wouldn't fall for this girl's fake affections! He refused to. He was done with foolish delusions. His original theory of her betrayal was all the more supported.

He thought back, to remind himself… Back to her. To the girl who had been his first friend. To the first person who had given him a birthday gift. To the first person he had given a gift to. To the first person he had loved. To the first person to betray him. To the first person to ever try to have him killed. To the first person to tell him about the Kyubi. To the first person he had ever tried to kill with the fox's chakra. To the first person who made him realize his gift.

He thought back to the face that haunted him for years because he could no longer remember it. He couldn't bring her name to mind, either. He would have it for only a second, it started with an A, perhaps. Then he would lose it.

Then he thought back to mere months ago…. No. No, those wounds were too fresh. But they reminded him of the even greater dangers of letting someone in.

There was even the perfect setup to force him to let his guard down, when he thought about it. Poor little Hinata, beaten by her cousin, so superior to her in skill. Yet she had not given up, because her crush was watching. She would say his nindo, she would make him believe that she not just cared for but admired him. It would've been so easy to do; Naruto was certain there was a way to rig the matches.

He would still defeat Neji, likely in the most humiliating way possible. He had sworn he would, and he didn't go back on his word. Besides, that fool was likely in on it; what idiot would actually try to kill the heiress to their clan publically, especially when they were subservient to the clan. Didn't like the fate talk in general, either. But that didn't change what Hinata Hyuga was.

No, she was just another bitch who wanted to ruin his life.

"I won't let you screw me over." He whispered, staring at the unknowing Hyuga with contempt. As he jumped off the ledge, a small voice in the back of his head said that maybe Jiraiya was right. Maybe he couldn't see the good in the world.

Naruto squashed that voice.

* * *

><p>Three more days passed, and Naruto was in the shadows. He had been preforming his weekly by over the village when he had seen the exams proctor from the preliminaries fighting a Sand jonin. Deciding that it may be to Naruto's benefit to save the man, as combat between allies alluded to war, the blond had relocated to a nearby roof.<p>

He pulled a kunai knife, and just as the Sand Jonin was about to kill man whose name Naruto had forgotten, the blond threw the lethal weapon at the Jonin. He threw it hilt-first, however, having the foresight to think of interrogation. It hit the unsuspecting man's temple, and it knocked him out like a light just before he finished his jutsu.

He saw the proctor turn to the direction the kunai had come from, but by that point, Naruto had fallen off the back of the building, unaware that he had just helped turn the tide of an upcoming war.

* * *

><p>The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat at his desk, once more burning the midnight oil in an effort to finish his paperwork. The only grace he'd had in the past few years in regards to the damned forms was that he no longer felt carpal tunnel syndrome.<p>

Signing the last document and stamping it with the seal of the Hokage, the aged monkey laid back and briefly took in the room around him. A red-painted room whose walls were lined with mahogany bookshelves, these bookshelves being filled with tomes upon all manner of things related to ninja and Konoha, the Hokage's office was second only to the Forbidden scroll when comparing volume of knowledge. There were four bookshelves total, one for each Hokage to leave their collection of wisdom.

It was disturbing how many of the books of each shelf was of an erotic nature, though the old man had helped make it that way. Only the Fourth's shelf was relatively safe for children, filled almost exclusively with sealing tomes and his own personal notebooks. The old man would never allow his grandson near the shelf, however; the last thing Hiruzen needed was the child trying to make exploding tags. There was also a small green tome he recognized as Jiraiya's first book, from which the hermit's godson's name had been derived.

In each corner of the room hung on the wall a portrait of every preceding Hokage. The First, standing smiling over the new Konoha. The Nidaime, sitting at his desk with an expression grave as the dead. Hiruzen himself, standing in front of the tower with a smile on his face as a young man in the Hokage's robes. And finally, a sight that made the old man's aches all the more pronounced, the Fourth, Minato Namikaze, smiling over the village from the top of the Hokage monument.

It struck Hiruzen once more how sad it was that he sat in this desk, not just because it kept his senior-citizen ass up past midnight. The night he has reassumed the mantle, so much had been lost; the village had lost its strongest Hokage, thousands had lost their lives, Naruto had lost both his parents, he'd lost… '_Oh Biwako…'_

The old monkey was brought out of his revelry by the sound of a pair of feet hitting his windowsill. He knew it was friendly – no actual assassin would choose such an obvious entry point, and any ninja developed an allergy to his damn door when they hit a certain level.

His suspicions were confirmed

"Isn't something that hard bad for an old man?" Naruto said dryly, a bored looked on his face.

Having already known of the boy's presence, Hiruzen uncorked the bottle, took a long drought, and put it down on his desk before answering. "Not with medical treatments like lung-cleaning and kidney purifying."

Naruto laughed his true laugh, something cold, short, and slightly evil sounding. "True enough." Naruto said. "But how much money do you blow on that habit?"

Hiruzen reached under his desk and grabbed his pipe. "Same amount you do."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, but with the money I receive now that you're trickling my inheritance into my bank account, I could buy Konoha's Red Light district."

Hiruzen laughed as well, a more gentle sound. "Yes, you could. But your mother would rise from the grave just to tan your hide if you did."

Naruto gave a cruel, crooked smile. "What would father do, congratulate me?"

'Not quite." Hiruzen said, lighting his pipe. "He'd check if it was a successful business venture. If it was, he'd try to calm Kushina down. If not, then he'd just stand to the side and shake his head at your stupidity." Taking a puff, he pulled out a small tray from another drawer and placed it on his desk inbetween veritable mountains of paperwork. On the tray where two glasses, which he filled with his preferred drink.

Gesturing to the other side of his desk to a comfortable chair that was usually meant for visiting dignitaries, he gave the unspoken command to Naruto to sit down, which the blond did, after a small flux of chakra to make himself more comfortable.

Placing a hand under his chin in mock thought, the blond said, "Hm. Sounds like my abilities would come in useful, then. Nobody can outrun something that is naturally faster."

Hiruzen laughed again. "I'm not so sure. Your mother could be one scary woman. She managed to keep control of Tsume Inuzuka while they were on the same team, after all." He inhaled from his pipe. "I take you came here for a different reason than to talk of my habits and your parents?"

Naruto nodded, amusement dancing across his features. "Yes... Never thought Sand would break the alliance."

Hiruzen's eyebrow twitched only slightly to show his surprise before he smiled, pushing a small amount of energy into the seal under his very useful desk to ensure privacy. "Figured you were the one who saved Hayate. Saw what was happening on one of your nightly patrols?"

"I did." Naruto responded with a nod, sipping the glass Sarutobi had poured for him with a serious expression. "War is coming, is it not?"

"Yes." Hiruzen confirmed gravely, his age showing a bit as he too sipped his beverage. "More than that, there will be a direct invasion of the Leaf during the Chunin Exam Finals."

That took Naruto by slight surprise, enough to make his eyes widen. "Doing that is extremely sacrosanct. A bold move for Sand. If they win, they'd be the fear of the main ninja villages. If they lose, though…" He let the thought go unfinished. The last village to attack during the Chunin Exams had been the Village Hidden in the Plains, whose unsuccessful attempt to destroy Kusa had resulted in few genin these days knowing of the Village Hidden in the Plains. Kusa hadn't even been holding the exams at the time.

"Sand was not alone in this." Sarutobi sighed. "As we've learned, Sound is also involved, under the leadership of my old student Orochimaru."

There was silence for a moment as Naruto absorbed this new information before he poured another drink; he would need one to continue this conversation, the old monkey knew. After half-draining his new glass, he said, "I've never been gladder for my nightly tradition than I am right now. Two villages, one of them one of the big five, launching a surprise attack on Konoha when we had our pants down? And led by that fucking freak? If we weren't annihilated the casualties would have still be enough to weaken us severely. Enough to unseat us as the strongest village, if not make us the weakest."

"Yes, it would have." The hokage agreed, refilling his own drink. "I know I would have died. There were plans in place by Orochimaru to get me alone and ambush me, though how we don't know. Now we have plans that there will be a squad of ANBU five feet from me at all times."

"Is the Kazekage involved?" The blond questioned, feeling concern for his surrogate grandfather. Cold or not, he loved the old monkey as if there was blood between them and would be crushed to see him die.

Hiruzen chuckled a bit. "Worried for an old man? I'm touched." He said. Before Naruto could interject, he continued. "Still, you need not worry about the Kazekage, or Sand for that matter. If Orochimaru has one fatal flaw, it is his arrogance in not planning for being found out."

A raised eyebrow from the blond being an obvious cue to explain, Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe and did just that. "The Kazekage was supposed to come here three weeks before the exams and tour the village with me, do some publicity events or some other bullshit to show the strength of the alliance. And yes, I see the irony." The elder man interjected before Naruto could open his mouth.

After a sip of liquid fire he continued. "He cancelled suddenly a day before his arrival was scheduled, citing issues that needed to be dealt with in Wind Country. Knowing about the invasion, I sent my most talented ANBU to spy on him, see what he was up to. What they reported was infuriating, but not as surprising as it should have been."

The old man's brow furrowed. "Orochimaru has killed the Kazekage, and taken his place to provide an opportunity to get close to me and take me down one-on-one."

Naruto's mouth actually fell open the slightest bit at this, a sight his surrogate grandfather enjoyed immensely. Inhaling deeply, he asked, "The fuck didn't he just come as the leader of Oto?"

"Because he wouldn't have been able to justify it." The elder ninja replied. He inhaled from his pipe. "The Kazekage was only coming because the particular genin he that have passed on have all been his children; all three of his children, in fact. Had they been any other genin, he would not have come. Unless there are ulterior political motives, it is a rare thing for Kage to travel to each other's villages. We have neutral meeting grounds for these types of things."

"And those would be?" Naruto asked.

"None of your business." The old man responded with a beat missed. He quirked his lips into a grin, sensing the blond's annoyance; there was something special in pissing off the brat by knowing things he didn't.

"At least give me a hint?" The blonde asked hopefully.

Shit-eating grin on full blast, Hiruzen took a puff and said, "It isn't any of the five villages."

Naruto rolled his eyes tossed back the last of his drink. "Because you didn't say that already." He sighed. After both glasses were refilled, the two sat there in a comfortable silence, Sarutobi contemplating what was coming, Naruto likely the same.

The blonde broke the silence after a few minutes. "I'm also going to air all my dirty laundry at the Chunin Exams. Kyubi, my heritage, everything."

Sarubtobi spit out the drought of liquor he had just imbibed, dropping his pipe in his wild hacking. He saw the brat's lips curl up in a smile, enjoying his little reveal.

When the old man finally regained his ability to speak, he demanded, "Now why in the grand fuck would you do that? Once the old are dead, none will know of your condition? I can understand your parentage, but the fox?"

"Don't forget my special abilities." Naruto retorted disinterestedly, inspecting a slightly chipped nail on his fingers.

Sarutobi blinked a total of three time before finally allowing himself to speak. "… All of this, Naruto, is your decision. I respect whatever you do. However, I do caution you."

The blond locked eyes with the Hokage then. The old man knew he was one of the few people Naruto respected and would listen to without question. An even greater honor for the old man was the fact that he knew his words would be taken to heart.

"Do not," the aged warrior began, finally allowing his years of life leak into his tone truly, "allow the first reactions of those you know to define them. All that will be brought to light in those first few seconds is knee-jerk, inconsequential. It is their actions over the following days, weeks that will show their true intentions."

Naruto nodded, allowing age beyond his own into his expression. It aged Sarutobi's spirit a further ten years every time he saw that look on any child's face, much less one he loved. He hated the life he had chosen only in these moments. "I will do my best, grandfather." He said, words that brought the old man's spirits up as he remembered what he would always mean to the boy sitting across from him. "But trust, I don't know. Even without thought I guard myself more and more these days. Even those few worthy of my faith… I sometimes wonder if it is beyond me."

Sarutobi sighed and refilled his pipe. He took a long pull of the smoke, taking comfort in his vice. "I know my boy. Trust is beyond many who walk our road, and you walk other roads even more difficult than just the one we share. But it is what separates us from the kunai that we use, for it is trust that allows love."

Naruto seemed to take this in, speaking only after a moment of apparent contemplation. "Yes. It is. She was a person because she loved him… Him and…" The boy trailed off as pain danced across his face.

After another second, the old ninja asked tentatively, "Are you still having nightmares?"

The blond swallowed, rolling his shoulders. "Yes, I am." He said. "Frequently. They plague me as they have for years, though the subject is now fluctuating."

Sarutobi thought back to the report on Wave. Kakashi had only been able to guess at what Naruto was feeling after having to do what he did, as the boy had been reticent on the subject. Kakashi, however, upon seeing Naruto begin once more to act normally, had allowed himself to believe his student had made peace with his actions. The Hokage, on the other hand, knew that that his grandson's normal behavior was an act.

"Naruto." The man began, careful. He had tried to broach the subject at an earlier time, but the results had been less than optimal. "What happened in Wave?"

The boy's face went from introspective to cold in under a second. "What happened to your wife?" He asked in response, ice in his eyes.

The question stopped Sarutobi's heart. He was silent as Naruto finished his drink and turned, leaving through the window. Only one thought floated through the old man's mind.

'_What the fuck happened in Wave?'_

* * *

><p>The night before the exams, Naruto sat in his apartment reading the book on birds, one of the smaller tomes. He had already completed the book on air currents, and was taking a break from the massive sealing tome, which had been everything it had looked to be.<p>

It was all theory and exercises for improving one's calligraphy, something extremely necessary for being a competent seal user. He was about halfway through, and was quite aware that he would learn nothing of use in time for the Chunin Exams, but sealing could help after this.

He was wearing a pair of soft, bright orange pants and his sleeping cap with no shirt. These were the only pieces of his wardrobe that had survived his recent cleaning, in which he threw out most of his jumpsuits out and replaced them with black sandals, black pants, and a flame orange, sleeveless shirt with two massive slits in the back. Some may think it was a little bare, but once he introduced his ability...

Well, he saw no reason to risk destroying more fabric than he needed to.

He wished he didn't have to. He had wanted to master his unique ability before letting the cat out of the bag. Up until now, only Sarutobi and Jiraiya had known of his strange mutation, the effect of a strange mix of the chakra of the Shinigami and the Kyubi hitting his DNA.

Looking at the time, he saw it was time to sleep. He would need to be well-rested for tomorrow's matches. He made sure he had Jiraiya's seal before he turned off his lights and fell into his bed. He was asleep in seconds, and for once, he had not a single nightmare.

* * *

><p>Naruto walked into the competitor's box, cracking his neck. His new attire was fitting comfortably, his headband now tied around his neck in a manner similar to Hinata Hyuga, a fact that annoyed him slightly. Still, the band was too long to tie around his arm and too short to go around his waist. It didn't feel right on his forehead – it never had – and sentimentality left him loathing changing out the original bandanna.<p>

Immediately all eyes were on him, as he was the last one to arrive. He had taken some time to get one last bowl of Ichiraku's before coming, so the fact that he was behind even Kakashi didn't shock him. He took in various reactions; just because the Third's advice had been taken to heart didn't mean he wasn't curious.

Sasuke and Sakura were the first two he looked at. They were his teammates after all, and despite the fact that the rational part of him hated Sakura as a ninja and person he couldn't help but feel some sentimentality after the past few months. And Sasuke… All that talk about brotherhood hadn't been simply talk.

Sasuke seemed curious and a little bit confused. However, it was not the open hostility that Naruto had expected given his friend's inferiority-superiority complex. It was an interesting development, and not unpleasant. Sakura also seem curious and a lot confused, obviously thrown for a loop that her blonde teammate could look anything but the fool. Naruto was slightly annoyed with this, but he was a good actor.

Then he turned his eyes to Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka, two people he'd never had problems with despite their unfortunate relationship with the Hyuga. Kiba seemed a little reassured, as if Naruto not appearing to be on the wrong side of the mental retardation line made his defeat better. There was no really good way to write failure by flatulence though. Shino was as unreadable as always.

Next came the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, who had to be taken in together as a rule. Ino was sizing him up in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable, Choji was already back to his chips, and Shikamaru… Well how very interesting. Naruto knew the Nara were smart as a rule, as well as lazy, but he had a feeling Shika was smarter than even a Nara had business being. He looked at the blond in a way so analytical that it was as if every single possible scenario was being gone through to explain the change and either being rejected and taken into consideration.

It was a frightening feeling that revealed information Naruto filed away for later. Then there was Neji Hyuga and Tenten Higurashi, the two not-crippled members of Team 9. Both gave him a once over before looking away. He wasn't surprised; Tenten he didn't know, and Neji was far too comfortable in his faith talk to ever be bothered by any sign his opponent may be stronger than they appear.

Then there were the sensei. Gai immediately erupted into a period of intense mourning over the seeming cooling of Naruto's Flames of Youth due to his apparel change, which the blond tried to tune out. Kurenai and Asuma both threw him a small glance before turning their attention back to each other. The blond briefly wondered when they would just fuck and get it over with.

Then there was Kakashi…

* * *

><p>Kakashi Hatake, a man rather difficult to surprise, was admittedly taken off guard by the new appearance of his unpredictable student. The young man's new attire was certainly more serious, and while his disposition to orange was still present it now much more resembled a color of autumn instead of the unnatural neon that had made the boy an eyesore.<p>

It shouldn't have been as shocking as it was, really. His enigmatic student had been the subject of much thought in the past month as the Copy-Nin had trained Sasuke. The boy had something underneath him, something Kakashi couldn't pinpoint, but it had seemed to be made of harder stuff at the prelims and still felt so now.

Not harder as in more mature. No, Naruto had proven through his actions in the past weeks that he was rapidly coming into his own, truly beginning to understand what his desire to become Hokage meant. He may even begin to understand, unbeknownst to him, why Kakashi had chosen to try for another genin team instead of taking the position when the Sandaime had offered a year ago.

This side of Naruto Uzumaki that was just coming to light was harsher, darker. It was an angrier, worn side. A side Kakashi, in a way, feared.

The young blond sat next to his teammates, where they all settled into a thick silence. The curiosity of Kakashi's other two students was evident, but they seemed to have far too much on their minds to really pay him too much attention. At least, Sasuke did.

"Nice clothes, Naruto." Sakura said nervously, still trying to adjust.

Naruto responded with a small, "Thank you." He then reached in his pocket and produced a small box easily recognizable to his teacher, a box from which he pulled out a cancer stick. He placed back the box and put the cigarette in his mouth before going to his other pocket. Digging for a second, he narrowed his eyes as he realized what he was looking for wasn't present. The blond turned to Asuma and asked, "Hey Asuma, mind if I borrow a light?"

'_Naruto smokes?' _Kakashi, and by his own estimation, everyone in the room, thought. After a brief moment of surprise Asuma shrugged and grabbed his own back-up lighter, a cheap one he had for these exact situations, loathed as Kakashi knew he was to allow anyone else to use his own lighter, and threw it to the blond. With a nod in thanks, the boy lit up and started puffing.

After a few moments, Sakura finally asked, "Since when do you smoke, Naruto?"

Kakashi expected a lot of answers. Perhaps he'd done it after Wave to cope with the stress, or maybe he'd decided to start today to help complete this change he was undergoing. There was even the possibility that he'd been doing it for years and none of them noticed. But he didn't say any of those things. Instead he said-

"Since sex gave me a reason to unwind." The boy responded.

There was a beat.

"BAKA!" Sakura screamed, raising her fist over her head, ready to bring it down and send Naruto into the floor with a mild concussion. Her sensei, however, already knew this was bad idea.

At a speed faster than Kakashi actually thought his blond student was capable of, Sakura's wrist was seized and several small pops could be heard. Sakura grimaced, shock and pain visible in her expression, while Naruto threw her a look that changed his eyes from endless oceans of cerulean to an unforgiving sea in the dead of winter.

"Sakura, you're a smart girl, correct?" Naruto asked, his voice matching his eyes.

The sensei in the room tense and ready to intervene, Kakashi himself closing the book he'd had blocking his face a moment before. Sakura, seeming to be overcome by fear, said, "Y-yes."

"And you understand that I do care for you as my teammate, right?" The cold blond continued, loosening his grip in a way that significantly reduced the pain Sakura had to be feeling but was unnoticeable to anyone but the sensei and the girl herself.

"Yes." She responded, still fearful but seeming to calm a small amount.

"Then let me ask you," Naruto began, "why, when I do nothing but be kind to you, do you continue to physically abuse me for simple things, like truthfully answering a question?"

There was no response, and quietly Kakashi applauded his student. He had never really approved of the pinkette's treatment of her teammate, and it was about time the young man said something. The Cyclops hadn't wanted to intervene himself, as even if he accomplished anything Sakura would just resent all involved and Naruto may hate Kakashi for making his crush hate him… Not that Kakashi was certain the boy held such affection for his loud teammate anymore.

"Understand." Naruto continued after the pregnant pause, "If you try anything like this again, I will not stop with pain. I will break your wrist, as within my rights to defend myself from assault. And our friendship with be over." He released her wrist then, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaling before taking another drag.

Before Kakashi could much think on some of the things that should worry him as a sensei, the sound of trumpets blared as Hayate Gekko walked out onto the field. There was mass cheering, the crowds harkening the beginning of a spectacle so rare as the public battles of shinobi, even those so relatively weak such as Chunin hopefuls.

The Hatake put these thoughts in the back of his mind for a later time. He had to worry about the invasion predicted by the Hokage.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the exams from his place in the Kage's box, smiling in his genial way as he planned the death of the disguised man next to him. Said man was Orochimaru of the Sannin, his fallen pupil, although the snake was wearing the robes of the Kazekage, a man currently dead.<p>

The old monkey was in the best shaped he'd been in in six years. He was immensely thankful for the month's warning Naruto had given him; after the invasion he would have to award the boy a medal, at least privately. The boy's actions and foresight had probably saved Sarutobi's life, as in the shape he'd been in weeks before would have been unable to defeat his erstwhile student.

The past month he'd regained much of what sedentary desk work had taken; he was not in the peak condition his weathered form would allow, but he was close. The old man could only pray it would be enough.

Hayate, the young swordsman who had delivered the now mind-wiped Sand ninja Baki to them, was finishing his spiel of announcing the games and reading the general rules. Finally, he announced the first battle.

"Would Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara of the Desert please come to the arena floor?"

Naruto jumped down from the Konoha box, whilst Gaara floated down on a cloud of minerals from the Sand box. It had been an idea of Hiruzen, to both put the able genin under the direct command of their Jonin superiors and to prevent the contestants from Sand and Sound attacking, to split the contestants up by village. He had used some bullshit about ensuring all fights were fair; it had passed, and that was all he cared about.

Gaara stood on one side of the arena, smiling madly at his opponent. The Third thought how lucky the Fourth Kazekage was to be dead; the aged monkey would have killed the gold dust using bastard for sending a Jinchuriki to the Chunin Exams without warning.

On the other side Naruto was finishing up a cigarette. He took one last puff before throwing the butt to the ground, stomping it out deliberately while looking Gaara dead in the eyes, an action that only seemed to further excite the Sand ninja.

Sarutobi had to admit to some excitement… It wasn't often he got to see his adoptive grandson fight to his full ability…

"Are both combatants ready?" Hayate asked. Both boys nodded.

It truly was an impressive sight, majestic even. It was light seeing an animal in its natural habitat…

"Fight!" Hayate shouted, jumping backwards. Immediately sand rushed forward from Gaara's gourd, moving to encapsulate Naruto. It did so, cocooning the boy in grains of rock like a coffin. Naruto did nothing but smile cockily at Gaara.

Sarutobi tuned his trained ears towards the Konoha combatant's box, where he heard several sounds. Kakashi was screaming at Naruto, the man's cool for once broken. Sakura Haruno was crying out in despair as likely the worst scenario she could have envisioned came to fruition. Even the stoic Sasuke Uchiha was shouting at his rival to do something. They wouldn't be so worried if they knew.

Come to think of it, Sarutobi thought to himself, it was more specifically like watching a bird of prey on the hunt…

"Sand Coffin!" Gaara shouted as he closed his open hand. Before his fist could even close halfway however, the sand burst outwards.

As the dust settled, all eyes were on Naruto Uzumaki, or more specifically the wings he had grown. Several meters from tip to tip, the wings were truly a sight to behold. They were the darkest of black, like the world's most blackened crow, yet in the sunlight, they shimmered.

They flapped lightly to keep Naruto in the air as the boy stood, smiling at his fellow jinchuriki, whose stunned expression slowly turned into one of pure ecstasy and anticipation.

With a single truly mighty flap, Naruto hurled himself at his opponent.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I want to reach out and grab his hand and hold it to me, right over my heart, right where it aches the most."

– Ally Condie, _Matched_

"We don't even ask happiness, just a little less pain."

– Charles Bukowski

* * *

><p>Gaara threw up a wall of sand to intercept Naruto, having the seen through his blood-lust to know Naruto was coming in too fast to stop with a counter attack. Naruto turned in air, sweeping his wing into the sand wall. The second it hit the wall was knocked over. The construct had been a good ten feet wide and fifteen feet tall, so the sand hit the ground with a resounding thud as Naruto continued towards the boy from Sand.<p>

Meanwhile, up in the stands, most were having thoughts of surprise. There was almost complete silence as the civilians who had shunned and hated Naruto came to terms with the fact that the boy who contained the Kyubi had just sprouted wings and taken the appearance of an angel.

It was as if the sky had turned green, the glass blue, and Orochimaru had volunteered at a soup kitchen. Naruto was supposed to be evil incarnate, the worst thing in Konoha! How could he look like an angel fallen to Earth? As these thoughts ran through the heads of many, there were feelings of anger, shame, awe, but the dominant feeling was shock. Mind-numbing, paralyzing shock.

_'THIS is what he was hiding?_ Kakashi thought, glad he had known something was amiss but astounded it was something so huge._ 'It would explain it all… Sarutobi must have known, that's why he said Naruto would be fine without aid! And his style was missing something, his wings! And the fight against Kiba, his wings are what were straining against his jacket, although I'm curious about the extra height and strength. Then a month ago, he had this ace! And the feather, it's exactly like Naruto's! It makes perfect sense that my student just... Sprouted..._ _Wings_...

"The fuck?" The man muttered as his book nearly fell from numb fingers.

Meanwhile Naruto was trying to fight Gaara, a task proving difficult to initiate. Just as he had reached Gaara, he had been forced to avoid a massive jet of sand. He twirled in the air in an impressive show of air acrobatics, skirting around it.

The sand tried to follow Naruto, but his wings moved him at least twice as fast. He quickly outran it and moved in a circle around the arena until he was directly behind Gaara, before flying at his fellow Jinchuriki.

He reached the red haired boy in two seconds with a massive burst of speed from a flap of his black-orange wings. Once he was near the boy Naruto formed his favorite hand seals and ten more winged Narutos appeared. One of them slid on the ground, much like the Naruto Uzumaki Barrage, and kicked him up in the air.

Two more flew up and kicked Gaara higher and higher, in the chin, in the stomach. Two more flew up and kicked him, more and more. Each kick propelled him further from the ground. Ten feet, thirty feet, sixty feet, eighty feet...

One hundred feet off the ground, the original flew up and grabbed Gaara in a similar manner that Lee had. The difference was, he just turned Gaara to face him. Another clone flew up and grabbed the boy, pulling him right in front of the real Naruto.

Gaara meanwhile, he was ecstatic despite his position, or rather because of it. He had met a worthy opponent! He could not focus long enough to move his sand, but his armor would protect him from whatever attack this boy was planning! He would prove his existence through the Uzumaki's death! The ravings of a mad man.

Naruto, sane in a sense and objectively thinking, was reflecting how simple it was to come out on top if you would just come up with a strategy to defeat your opponent in the month you had, Sure, the fact that they learned new things made that difficult, but with an opponent like Gaara, who was very unlikely to change at all, it was your best idea. So Naruto had come up with a simple idea.

Smash Gaara's sand armor, cut off his seal, and knock him the fuck out. Right now, he was working on step one. Unfortunately, Naruto forgot the most important rule of war and battle. The best-laid plans get fucked up beyond all recognition once the enemy arrives.

Naruto channeled chakra into his wings, as he would to strengthen any limb. He made it where they would flap exponentially faster than normal. Then, he strengthen the fragile membrane with chakra to keep it from breaking with the tremendous force he would have to put behind them.

Finally, he pulled back his wings and flapped.

"Wind Style: Gale Force." He whispered to himself.

The gust of wind created went at least three hundred miles an hour, greater than most wind attacks and any hurricane in Konoha's recorded history. This entire gust was directed at Gaara in an area of five square feet.

This would have killed most men in a second, but Gaara's sand armor kept him alive. As he moved towards the ground at record speeds, he summoned up his sand below him and stopped his movement, keeping him alive. Clambering to his feet before the stunned Naruto, Gaara stood upon a floating cloud of sand, and sent another mass of his signature substance at his fellow Jinchuriki.

'_Of course it's not that easy.'_

Naruto avoided the sand barrage with deft flying, locking eyes with Gaara. The two sped towards each other, engaging in a sort of aerial dogfight. Gaara knew an actual hand-to-hand battle would be to his opponent's advantage, and so the redhead always worked to keep a couple of meters between himself and the blond, conjuring blasts of sand whenever the blond came close, forcing him to veer off course.

Naruto knew he needed to get close, but he didn't know how to, stuck in a pattern. He was on the offensive in a sense, but he had yet to be able to get close enough to throw an actual blow. Meanwhile every couple of shots Gaara threw connected, at least glancing him, and eventually one would hit him way worse than that.

That shot came as Naruto was considering it. The Sand jinchuriki had the bright idea of throwing a second smaller blast behind first one but in the direction Naruto was likely to roll. Guessing correctly as to where his opponent was moving, the Sand ninja had Naruto dead to rights. The winged boy tucked his wings against him as the blast approached, trying to torpedo through it. The sand was packed thicker than he would've guessed though, so instead he was sent tumbling back hard.

He managed to right himself, hitting the arena wall feet first and creating a small crater, about a meter in diameter. Although his head was ringing he was able to quickly go through his options. His ranged attacks were either too weak to do enough damage or would take too long to prepare, so he needed to get in close. He needed to find a quicker way than flying directly at him… A plan forming in his mind, the blond pushed off towards his foe.

Gaara's sand was once more avoided by Naruto, who barrel-rolled aside a blast meant to catch him against the wall. He followed up by flapping his wings at Gaara while upright, sending at least fifty feathers at Gaara. The boy easily through up a shield of sand to intercept them, but, to the surprise of most watching, they flew through the shield and straight onto Gaara. There were all stopped by his much harder sand armor, but the idea that any of his defenses could be breached obviously rattled the boy.

* * *

><p>"How did he do that?" Shouted Kiba, moving to grip the rail. Next to him, Asuma answered.<p>

"Wind manipulation is my guess." Asuma said. "He covers his feathers in his own wind-nature chakra. This makes the individual little bits of the feathers sharper than your highest quality kunai, and the wind chakra behind them make the feathers move three times as fast as any Jonin could throw projectiles. Problem is, they bend and break easier, so the sand armor, which was as hard as rock, was able to stop them."

"That's... Cool..." Kiba breathed from the Konoha part of the box, also on the edge of his seat. He was in awe of Naruto. The dead last of the academy, the boy Kiba had always beaten in spars, now looked to be beyond Chunin level! Hell, without the wings and acting like an idiot Naruto was stronger than him...

_'God damn! I need to be stronger!' _He thought, clenching his fist in self-anger. He had always slacked, just assuming strength would come. Naruto had probably trained his ass off to reach this level. _'I will get stronger.'_

_0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000_

Naruto followed up his feathers by making a few hand seals. Once he finished his seals, he shouted, "Wind Style: Air Bullet!" Naruto pulled back and threw his head forward, making a huge bullet-like ball of compressed wind launch at Gaara.

Gaara threw up another shield of sand, at least twice as thick as the first one. The bullet would have gone through the sand if not for its explosive properties. Because of these properties, the bullet exploded the second if hit the wall, making the sand wall explode itself in a cascade of glittering grains that Gaara promptly took control of.

He formed many projectiles with the sand, from kunai to shuriken to senbon, and sent them all at Naruto. Naruto responded with his own barrage of feathers, matching each sand weapon blow for blow. Naruto then followed up with a regular kunai of his own a small bit to the left of Gaara. The boy did not bother blocking it, and not seeing it as a threat neither did his sand.

This proved to be a mistake, as the second the weapon was next to Gaara, Naruto substituted with the projectile, putting him right next to the red-haired boy. Most people wouldn't have had the chakra to waste, as the amount of chakra expended was proportional to the difference in size of the object and the person when talking substitution, but Naruto had plenty to spare. Before anybody could catch up except the present Jonin, Naruto had delivered a roundhouse kick to Gaara's head. He followed up by slapping the entire man with his wing. The experience of being hit by the powerful appendage was similar to being hit by a brick was at ninety miles an hour, and the boy flew to the side.

Once more, his sand came behind him and captured him, but this proved useless as Naruto preformed the same trick. Gaara's sand didn't register the off-target kunai immediately as a threat, and Gaara himself was too distracted to react himself. Therefore, as Gaara was about to hit the nearest arena wall, Naruto appeared behind him and hit him once more in the same manner.

Gaara's body did a strange bend around Naruto's foot, spinning slightly, and hanging on the blonde's outstretched leg. Naruto took the second before the sand caught up with what was happening and observed the damage done to Gaara. The boy's sand armor was cracked and chipped, but not to the level Naruto had been hoping for.

Had his Gale Force technique worked, Gaara would be in a much worse state, covered in cuts and bruises and his sand armor shattered. He would have hit the ground faster than anyone could possibly move, perhaps at up to 350 miles per hour. It would have allowed Naruto to get to the flesh seal was written on, wherever it was on Gaara, and put up his counter seal.

He would need something better. He could continue kicking Gaara around, but Naruto didn't think the trick would work more than once more, not enough to finish the boy's armor. Even with Naruto's speed with his wings, Naruto didn't think his wings would work for fighting Gaara's sand. They were too cumbersome to fight the sand, and if they were crushed like Lee's limbs, they would never heal. He wings being crushed would cause him more pain than the average male getting his sack destroyed.

He could attempt his jutsu again, but the strain put on his wings by the attack, even if chakra-infused, could break them. That would heal with regular medical attention, but Naruto would be out of the tournament, something he wanted to avoid, especially with the invasion happening today.

Then he remembered what had happened to Gaara's armor when Rock Lee had used his lotus. It had been as cracked and fractured as Naruto had made it now, so it would more than likely get Naruto to where he needed to be. But he didn't have the proper training to get out of the technique, so he would need another way to generate equal force…

Then the blond mentally hit his forehead. The Naruto Uzumaki Barrage… He would have to change that name.

Naruto tossed Gaara up with one leg then kicked him up with another, sending the red-haired boy a hundred feet off the ground once more. Naruto then made a clone, who flew up, kicking him further. He created a couple more clones who did the same while Naruto himself put every single ounce of his speed towards working above his mid-air foe, just barely keeping ahead of the sand pursuing its master put increasing his berth every second.

Once the blond was above Gaara, about three clones and fifty more feet later, the blond folded his wing twisted his body hard, doing a full one-hundred and eighty degree spin. All the force generated by this went into Gaara's sky-turned stomach via Naruto's foot. The tanuki boy went downwards at a frightening speed, through his own sand, which promptly turned and followed. There was a mighty crash.

A lot of dust was kicked up and once it cleared, Naruto saw what had happened, or at least made an inference on what had happened. It appeared Gaara's sand had rushed after the red-haired boy and had hit the ground shortly after the redhead himself. It had smashed onto the boy and broken his armor completely, and a few bones, judging by the amount of sand that had hit. It was amazing how Gaara's most powerful weapon could be so easily turned against him.

Seeing that Gaara was nearing unconsciousness, Naruto folded his wings and made himself into a sort of wedge, allowing him to clear the distance in less than three seconds. Less than twenty feet from the ground, he opened his still chakra-infused wings and glided to the ground next to his fellow jinchuriki

Naruto pulled out the previously made seal, and thought humorously of how it looked like the seal Orochimaru had put on him a month ago. He was lucky he'd known enough about sealing to realize it was the kinda of seal that was neutralized by chakra channeled into it in the exact same manner the seal was applied, and been able to remove it the second he got home after the preliminaries… Albeit with considerable pain.

He was moved out of his musings by the sound of sand moving. He saw that it had begun swirling around Gaara. It covered parts of his body and began making a sort of shell around Gaara, while the boy himself began ranting. "You made me bleed, Uzumaki! You will die! Die! You will prove my existence!" He shouted. He then screamed like a mad man. "Mother wants your blood, Uzumaki! Mother wants you blood!"

Naruto's only reaction was to channel chakra into the seal and slam it onto Gaara's still-visible seal.

There was silence from the Sand-nin, then he started shivering. "I can't hear mother!" He whispered hoarsely. "I can't hear mother!" He screamed. He then began sobbing as the sand forming a sort of Tanuki shell dissolved around him.

Naruto looked down at the boy, feeling a sort of pity. This was an unusual feeling for winged boy, as he view those as unable to provide or protect themselves not worth his time. But he saw how easy it would have been for him to turn into Gaara, had his father made the slightest mistake with the seal. How he could have become so dependent on his demon...

The thought made him sick.

He knelt beside Gaara and whispered, in a much warmer tone than many would hear from him for a long time. "Gaara." He called. The red-haired boy's eyes turned to Naruto, filled with fear and pain, and Naruto once more felt a stab of pity. "I'm going to tell you this once. To live, you do not need to kill everyone you can. You do not need anyone but yourself. You do not need your village, you do not need your family, and you do not need _mother_. You need only yourself."

He sighed. "That being said, you probably scared off anyone who could have loved you. Give your siblings a chance, give your village a chance. But if they squander it, then ignore them. Do not give them the time of day. If they try to harm you, kill them. Otherwise, _they do not exist._"

Naruto then reached up to Gaara's neck and squeezed a pressure point, knocking him unconscious. He ignored Hayate announce him as the victor and flew back up to the contestant's box.

The entire exchange had taken about ten minutes.

* * *

><p>The 'Kazekage' was currently cursing all things above and below the sun, especially the boy in front of him. Gaara had been the tool he was going to crush Konoha with, and his fucking tool had just been broken!<p>

Orochimaru had no doubt that he could easily return Gaara's seal to its original form, but the boy himself was broken, Orochimaru could tell. He was a talented lip-reader and had witnessed the verbal exchange between the two jinchuriki.

The snake admired the Kyubi brat's philosophy, he had to say. However, the focus on that had been the abject fear in Gaara's eyes. The Sand ninja could not be beaten, at least that was what he needed to believe. The thought that he could be defeated, that one day someone else would end him to prove their existence, was too much for him in that moment. He wasn't able to comprehend the idea.

He had lost his bloodlust, his need to kill that had driven him to the extremes he had reached. Without that, he was of no more use than a broken sword.

Orochimaru would have to go to plan B. It would leave him fighting his old sensei alone, but the village around their battle would fall all the faster. Besides, he could kill that decrepit old monkey! He just found it would be poetic if he did it with Sarutobi's predecessors.

This invasion could still work. Perhaps it was better this way, if the rumors of Jiraiya in the village were true. The old toad had no chance against the Shodai and Nidai, after all.

No, this invasion would still work, he just had a little bump. It would take longer to set up, perhaps even until they awarded the trophy to the victor of the tournament. And besides, now he had something new to do.

Killing and dissecting Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

><p>Said boy landed in the contestant's box and took his seat, ignoring the shocked stares around him. The entire group remained silent for a moment while a few earth manipulators repaired the arena.<p>

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke first.

"Yes Sasuke?" Naruto responded, pulling out another cigarette.

"You have wings." Sasuke stated, not a question but simply an establishment of fact.

"Yep." Naruto said with a nod as a shadow clone came into the room, holding a recently purchased lighter. The Naruto clone handed the fire starter to the original before dispelling; Naruto had made it when he realized he didn't have his, discreetly. The blond lit up and took a puff.

"How?" Sasuke questioned.

The winged boy took a deep inhale. "That." He said, "Is a long story that requires the reveal of quite a few more secrets. So, if you don't mind, can it wait?"

"Can it wait?!" Kiba demanded from the metaphorical peanut gallery. "Dude, you just sprouted wings!"

"Already established Kiba, but I see you're trying so A plus for effort." Naruto cut in glibly.

"Dude!" The dog boy said again.

"Kiba." Kurenai cut in. All eyes turned to her. "Maybe we should just let Naruto explain when less is going on. I'm sure we're all curious, but it seems like a long story."

"Very curious." Sasuke stressed.

"Once more, understood." Naruto countered. "And I would be in your shoes. But I plan to let some things loose when I win this thing, so after that I can clear things up for everyone."

There was more silence. Then Sasuke gave a small snort. "When? You'll need to sprout a lot more than wings before you beat me, idiot."

"Oh really, bastard?" The blond rival responded with his own small snort. "Maybe if you're Sharingan let you rip off my wings too you'd have a chance, but that's not how it works."

"I can find other ways to rip off your wings." Sasuke responded in kind. He curved his lips into an o-shape and let out a puff of smoke. "Remember who has the elemental advantage here."

"That's not how that works and you know it." Naruto retorted. "Besides," he continued, letting out a puff of smoke, "I can breathe fire too. It isn't as half as hard as you make it look."

The two continued like this, insulting back and forth. If anybody else said any of these things to either of them, they would be fighting words, but between those two they were par for the course. Bastard and idiot had gone from childish insults to terms of endearment in a way.

At first those not too familiar with the situation were worried there was actually going to be a fight. But when the first missile was launched, Sakura smiled, and Kakashi did the strange thing he did with his eye in lieu of smiling. This was how the two functioned; they really were brothers at this point.

Still, in the back and Sakura's mind, and in the back of Naruto's, they both recognized Sasuke wasn't quite the same as he was the month before. He was different, more open, friendlier. Some of the insults the blond was throwing would've crossed a line before, but now Sasuke too them simply as jokes. This was not a bad change, but it was a curiosity almost as strange as Naruto himself.

* * *

><p>Hinata Hyuga was nothing even approaching mentally healthy. On the outside, she seemed simply a shy, withdrawn girl, but that was not even a fraction of the truth. Hinata Hyuga was a girl on the verge of collapse.<p>

Her life had started off fine. Very good in fact. She'd been born heiress of the Hyuga clan, arguably the most powerful in Konoha. She had loving parents, a loving uncle, and a cousin who desired only to protect her, as was the role he had been assigned in life. Had these things been constant, she would've grown up to be gentle and strong girl, beating Sasuke Uchiha as head of their class and becoming one of the strongest ninja of her generation, stronger than her prodigy cousin.

But that was not to be. From a young age, Hinata slowly had these blessings stripped away from her. She first lost her uncle at the age of three, the man dying in her father's stead. He had chosen this for himself, but that was not something known to any besides her father. When she had lost her uncle, she also lost her cousin. After all, the only reason anyone had needed to die was because she was kidnapped for her bloodline limit and her father had killed the man who did so; an important visiting Cloud dignitary whose death demanded response. To avoid war, somebody had to die. Since it was he uncle, her cousin irrationally blamed her and grew to hate the girl. Her father even grew cold to her.

But still, life was good. She was still heiress of the Hyuga, after all. And her father still loved her, and her mother still loved her. She even gained a baby sister who she adored, unaware of what a new child would mean for one of them. But it was not to last.

Shortly after the child's birth, Hinata lost her mother to illness. When she lost her mother, she lost her father as well. The man allowed Hinata, so similar to her mother in nature and appearance, become a symbol of his own failures to save the love of his life. And so, he grew to hate his daughter. He took away the protection he had always given the girl, protection from dissident members of his clan who doubted the girl for her kind nature, for her love of the Hyuga branch family.

But still, the girl was heiress. She still had the little sister she adored. Life wasn't yet horrific, despite the cold eyes of the daddy she loved. But soon, she faltered in her training, unable to respond to the cold, harsh methods the Hyugas used to teach. Her sister meanwhile, she learned fine. Her father saw her sister succeed and decided that she was more worthy than Hinata. He disowned the girl as clan heiress in all but name, allowing her to feel the full displeasure of her clan. He turned her little sister into his mirror, teaching her the sister who loved her so, poor Hinata, was to be scorned. He turned the girl over to Konoha's ninja forces, unheard of for most main branch members, hoping to an extent she would die in the line of duty and rid him of this failure, his failure.

Yet the girl persisted. Despite her nature, timid and shy, she tried. But she could not learn from rage and disappointed, she could not learn from what she was taught. And as her father grew colder and colder, open palms in the training room turned into closed fists.

Hinata had sat on her bed the night before beginning the academy, all of seven years old, contemplating the stolen kunai in her hands. She had raised it, ready to bring it down into her stomach and end the shame that she now perceived herself to be. But then she saw her mother's smiling face, and felt a shame so great she could do nothing but allow herself to live with it. She dropped the knife and fell to sleep, tears rushing down her face.

This was fortunate, for the next day at the academy she found the ray of light she needed. Bullied by boys unknowing of her pain for having rights she no longer possessed, the light saved her. The light of Naruto Uzumaki, for at that time he was a light, still largely untouched by the evils of the world, the betrayals he would feel. He saved her from this abuse at the cost of his own well-being.

She saw this boy, and over the coming weeks she saw him persevere though troubles equal to her own. She saw food thrown at him openly in the streets. She saw him shunned. She saw him hated. Yet she also saw him laugh and smile, saw his eyes shine in a way she couldn't fathom being possible. And in this boy, Naruto Uzumaki, she found strength. She admired him so, and over time that admiration turned into affection and even love, a love beyond something simply romantic. At so young an age, only eight at the time she realized her feelings, she loved Naruto Uzumaki. She loved the strength she gave him, the courage. She loved his smile, his shining blue eyes. She loved the ideals he embodied that, to her young mind, promised the love of her father once more if she too could exude them like he did.

For a short time, she grew stronger. Her younger sister could barely match her as she fought with her for their father's love. He grew not warmer, but still less cold. He even smiled, once, briefly. She even came close to be courageous enough to talk to the boy she held so fear. But then her father discovered the source of his daughter's strength, the village pariah, and he felt nothing but fury.

He brought his daughter before the clan elders, ordered her to apologize to them and himself for her disgrace, to cease any and all thoughts of Naruto Uzumaki. Yet Hinata knew she could not do that; without Naruto, she would not be strong. She could face her sister, learn from her cold tutoring. She had built the person she was becoming around him, he was the pillar that held her up. Without him, she would collapse, and her father would not care for her anyway.

And so, deciding she needed to keep something, she did the unthinkable and denied her father. And in response he struck her, demanding an apology again. Again she refused, seeing not her father but the beautiful cerulean eyes she loved. Again he struck her. This continued for hours, the clan elders watching impassively.

He beat her beyond what could dismissed as discipline or training, beyond any right he could argue to have as her parent. For hours, he tore down what she was trying to build. By nightfall she was a quivering mess upon the floor, and one last time he demanded she bow to his will. And in response he whispered that word she would have said for no other cause, not even her own life.

"_No."_

And so he kicked her aside, in the wall like trash. He and the elders left her there, shaking their heads at what a disappointment she was. For a week she was abused further, and another week her visible marks allowed to heal, before she was permitted to return to the academy. All her progress undone, she received middling grades. She faded into obscurity among her classmates. She became dead to her father and the clan. Unknowingly, she had even lost Naruto, who had been betrayed and given knowledge that changed him fundamentally.

But he hid this well and continued being the boy Hinata loved so much. And that boy he pretended to be became her only reason for living, the one light that shined in her abyss. She took what had been destroyed by her father and to an extent rebuilt it, growing stronger than she showed. She did not show this strength, as it was derived from Naruto and would not gain her the love of her family. She hid it so well her own teacher Kurenai, who she was closer to than all others, did not see it. But even unseen it gave her a reason to live. It allowed her to keep that which she was shunned for, her kindness. It gave her hope.

Notice the comparison of Naruto to a pillar; he is the main support to the person that is Hinata Hyuga, the fragile construct she is at thirteen. And when you knock the main support down in a building, the building falls into rubble.

This was the state of Hinata Hyuga the morning of the Chunin Exams, stumbling through the halls of the arena, coughing up blood. Earlier, Naruto Uzumaki had revealed himself for what he was at the training grounds, when she met him to wish him good luck.

_She had been waiting here, knowing he would pass through one his way to the arena. It was the most direct way from his apartment. When he finally came, her heart skipped a beat as she saw him in his new clothes. She was surprised, but not put off. He was handsome in them, looking far older and more mature. He even wore his headband as she did, an inconsequential fact that made her heart flutter._

_She stepped out from behind the log she had been using to hide. Poking her fingers together, she looked up, expecting to see the happy blue orbs she adored. Instead, she was greet by a look of disdain and hatred, emanating from frozen lakes._

Hinata learned hard again the wall, fire in her chest from lingering damage Neji had caused. She needed to see a doctor, but… Did she even want to?

"_H-hello Naruto." She stuttered out, unnerved by his eyes but not totally put off._

"_What do you want?" He demanded of her, his tone spiteful. The words drove a knife into Hinata's heart._

_Still, she was sure it wasn't her. She hadn't seen him like this before, but he had helped her weather so many storms, he needed the same right now it seemed. Maybe he was just nervous to fight Gaara, though she had absolute faith he would win._

"_I-I just w-w-wanted to w-wish y-you l-luck." She stuttered out, not able to meet his cold eyes._

"_R-r-r-really?" He stuttered out back in a mocking imitation of her voice, even copying her nervous face. "I'm s-s-so t-th-hankful." Then his face turned hard and cold, his lips turning into a sneer that mocked the smile that had made Hinata so happy. "Cut the bullshit. I know what you want."_

Hinata slid down the wall, coughing up blood. She felt her heart break as she thought back to his words, his cruel, cruel words.

"_W-what?" Hinata asked, her heart beginning to beat wildly. No, he couldn't be saying these things, mocking her._

"_You heard me." Naruto hissed vehemently. "I know I'm just part of some Hyuga clan ploy. I know you think getting me to buy into your shit will get daddy to love you, but guess what, I'm not as stupid as you think."_

_She stared at him, dazed by his accusations. "Wh-what are you t-talking-"_

_He was an inch from her face in a second. In a low tone, dangerous, he said, "Cut the bullshit and use your big girl voice, bitch."_

Use your big girl voice, he'd said. Her father had said to use the voice of a Hyuga, years ago as he'd beaten her. To use a voice of authority. She coughed up more blood on her lavender shirt, staining it.

_She wasn't, she couldn't, and there was no accepting this for her. This was Naruto, the source of her light. This wasn't happening._

_After a moment of silence, Naruto smiled cruelly. "Or just lose your voice entirely then. That's even better really, it shuts you up." He shoved past her, brushing her hard with his shoulder. She stumbled back as he walked past._

_She didn't… No. No. She stood silently, hearing his footfalls as he walked past her, walked away from everything she had loved in him. No. No. She couldn't._

_She turned, tears falling down her face, she screamed, "Naruto!"_

_He stopped, turned his head, leveling his cold eyes to her over his shoulder. "What?" He demanded of her._

For a moment, she didn't know what. She didn't know what to say to what she was seeing; her beacon, turning his back on her? It was the worst thing she could imagine; no, not even that good. She would never have been able to fathom what had happened, his words. Not until he felt them pierce her.

"_You can't!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face. She'd sworn off crying, as he had. It accomplished nothing, but… But he had broken so many things…_

"_Can't what?" He scoffed. "What can't I do?"_

"_You can't abandon me!" She screamed. "My father did, my mother did, my uncle, Hanabi, Neji, not you too!" She fell to her knees. "I can't lose you!" She sobbed pitifully._

_Then he laughed. A harsh, cruel, discordant sound she would've never been able to associate with him. "Playing the family card? You know, if I was more naïve that might work. But I'm no fool Hinata." He turned fully to her, shaking his head. "You hide yourself, like me. I see your movements. Every single hit thrown is being held back; you're good at hiding, but you can't hide from me. You hide your true strength, strength greater than almost any other genin. If you'd used it from the get go with Neji, you would have beaten him."_

_He walked closer to her, each word accentuated with a footfall. "You are like me, but not for your own defense. You deceive the village at the behest of your clan, to pass off this bullshit of loving me. Wouldn't it be great if they could get the Kyubi under their control, after all?"_

The Kyubi. Hinata coughed up more blood, pulling herself slowly to her feet. She never would've imagined something so impossible to be the source of Naruto's suffering. But it made sense. His birthday, his stamina…

"_What?" Hinata asked, her voice small._

"_Don't play dumb." He scoffed. "The Kyubi was sealed in me by the Fourth the day I was born. I'm a Jinchuriki. That's why you're pursuing me, isn't it?" He looked at her face for another moment before his eyes widened. "Wait… You really didn't know, did you?" _

_He burst into laughter. "Dear God, how desperate must you be for your father's affection to seduce some random peasant without even knowing why!" He wiped an invisible tear from his eye. "Oh, that's rich. What a liar."_

"… _This isn't you." She mumbled. She stood, her heart beating fast. "No, this isn't the Naruto Uzumaki I know!" It had to be some kind of trick, some kind of cruel deception… Where was her Naruto, the boy she loved…?_

_He snorted derisively. "That's because he's dead and gone."_

Her heart fractured like glass as she stumbled to standing, hearing the echo of those words in her mind. Naruto Uzumaki was dead and gone. Those words, each syllable like a knife in her heart. The boy she loved was-

"_He never really existed, honestly. He was a curtain hiding me, something to keep the villagers away from me, to keep other villages from trying to kidnap me, until I could stop them myself. I'm glad I finally did away with him." The blond continued._

_Naruto Uzumaki was gone. She clung to her memories, shining eyes, golden hair, perseverance, courage, his smile…_

"_No, my name is Naruto Namikaze. I'm very different. Smarter." He continued, turning again and beginning to walk away. "I'm past foolish needs like respect of the masses. I'm past the idiotic belief in the kind of love you suggest, especially the kind of love you suggest." He stopped for a moment and threw her one last glance. "I've dropped my mask. I suggest you drop yours, now that your reason for it is gone."_

_She said nothing in reply as he continued to look at her. Then he turned his head back, walking away and whistling a tune she didn't recognize. Soon, even the tune and the sound of footsteps were gone._

_Then she started coughing up blood._

* * *

><p>Kabuto Yakushi had to admit some worry after seeing Gaara of the Sand go down. He, much like his own master, knew that without Gaara the heavy-hitting elements of the invasion would be spread uncomfortably thin.<p>

The plan had been to release the one-tailed jinchuriki on the village at large, tying up forces in the village while summons wreaked havoc and their ninja pillaged as they pleased. Meanwhile, Lord Orochimaru would use the summoned dead Hokage to kill his old mentor in a delicious bit of irony.

Now, however, they would have to move to a contingency plan. The henchman assumed it would be the plan in which one of the two old Hokage would be summoned outside the barrier the Sound Four would erect to trap the Third; like the Second, considering his mass water jutsu and space-time techniques, although more primitive than most, were meant to take on armies.

The traitor could only assume. Still, he would need to cast his genjutsu technique to knock out the civilians in the stadium. The disguise of an ANBU captain he had employed was perfect; nobody questioned him. He had even had two ANBU agents defer to him earlier: he'd sent them to useless positions entirely out of the way of Sound troops.

Now he was just pacing through the halls of the stadium, waiting for the end of the tourney; they'd originally planned to attack once Gaara lost it, but he was useless now, so the tourney would be allowed to continue the end, to sate Orochimaru's curiosity about the strength of Leaf genin.

The spymaster was brought out of his musings by the sound of sobbing and coughing from around the corner. He paused for a moment, trying to decide if he cared to get involved, before shrugging and deciding he had nothing to lose.

As he turned the corner, he saw a girl, tiny in stature he noted, struggling to her feet and using the wall as support. She fell again, thudding to the floor with a cry. Laying prone, she curled in on herself, coughing violently. He noticed blood come from her mouth, a sight that made him at least curious enough to help.

He walked to her side and kneeled down, turning the girl onto her side to where he could see her face. He eyes were getting glazed; she'd passed out, he realized. She had to be in great pain. She wore a forehead protector around her neck, indicating she was a ninja, and he noted her pupiless eyes showed her to be a Hyuga… An unmarked one.

He may have to take her for experimentation purposes, but for now he needed to figure out what was wrong with her. She was still coughing bloody mucus, and putting his hand on her chest as she breathed he got an idea of the problem.

He ran a quick diagnostic to make sure and was proven correct. The girl was suffering from massive internal damage to her lungs, heart, and kidneys, seemingly dealt to her via the Gentle Fist. Looking at these injuries, he realized he was not dealing with just any Hyuga, but the one publically recognized as clan heiress.

He remembered she'd been severely injured in a battle with a clansmen during the Chunin Exam Preliminaries. He'd recently made a ninja info card on her for his collection. The injuries were severe, but oddly enough seemed to be half-healed. The heart was mostly untouched, not surprising considering the way it was harmed was hard to see for the average medical ninja or doctor. The lungs and kidneys had been attended to however, just poorly.

In fact, he realized that they were healed in such a way as to have the girl die from stress. Her heart, damaged as it was, essentially had arrhythmia, a condition that affected the beating of the heart. It could become irregular with this condition, and if severe enough, as the Hyuga's were, could lead to death under stress. Her lungs and kidneys were healed such as she would be constantly short of breath and have a steady case of pneumonia building…

This was meant to kill the girl over time, seemingly of simple complications from severe injuries. Most coroners wouldn't notice that the wounds had been intentionally healed to cause said complications. Most medic ninja wouldn't either, so perhaps they hadn't been purposely healed that way. Still, it seemed a bit too coincidental…

He ended his diagnostics jutsu, content that he'd found the problem, and quickly went about healing her. To a doctor and medical ninja of his caliber, the wounds were a simple thing. Soften the tissue here, break down blockage there, and reconnect this tendon in the heart…

Within minutes he was done repairing the damage; the injuries were even simpler than he first expected. Physically she may have to catch up a slight bit after so long unable to exercise, but other than that she was back to perfect form. Her breathing was returning to normal and her eyes had drifted shut. He was about to pick her up and take her to Sound forces outside the village as quickly as possible so as not to miss anything when, to his surprise, she stirred.

Before he could attempt to put a seal on her the girl's eyelids fluttered open, revealing once more those lavender orbs he coveted, although they were now awake and alert. She saw him and seemed to shrink into her coat in surprise.

He chuckled and stood up from his kneeling position, offering her his hand. "Don't be frightened child." He said genially, using an affectation upon his voice to make himself seem less frightening. He needed an opportunity to quickly and efficiently knock her out.

She inspected for a moment before leaving her coat, placing her hand in his. He hoisted her to her feet, making the obviously shy girl squeak again. Once she was standing a hand went to her chest as she noticed the absence of pressure.

"I repaired the damage." Kabuto cut in, getting her shocked eyes. "It wasn't healed right by whoever inspected it last, seemingly not on accident." Her eyes went even wider, a sight somewhat disconcerting with her lack of pupils. "If allowed to continue in the state you were in, you would have died very soon, probably minutes ago."

The girl stared at him for a few seconds before slowly looking down, contemplative. After another few seconds, he spoke again. "Seems you have enemies."

She nodded, meeting his eyes after another few seconds. "So it would seem." She said, her voice almost a whisper. She seemed to think for a second, as if remembering, before her face twisted into pain.

The reaction was so sudden and unpredictable the spy actually jumped a fraction. He reached out, thinking he may have missed a nuance to her injuries, but she fell back from his touch and into the wall.

She grabbed her chest, but not where she should have due to complications from her injuries. Rather, instead of going for her diaphragm, she went for her heart. Then she started whispering.

"No." She whispered, her voice raw with despair. "No no no no no. Not him, he can't be gone. Not him."

"Kid, you okay?" Kabuto demanded, confused a little put out. He'd hoped for a bit more thanks.

She seemed to finally really take notice of him, these words catching her attention. She looked at his masked face, and he knew she was only now seeing who he appeared as. Oddly enough however, she did not seem to care. She looked back down, silent again. Finally, she said, so quietly he could barely hear her, "No."

After a pause, Kabuto asked, "And why is that?"

There was another pause. Finally the young girl said, "Because I just lost the most precious person in my life." Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

The spymaster mentally sighed. Great, teenage angst, he thought to himself. Just what he'd wanted to deal with. "Child, you'll find another boyfriend, it isn't the end of the world." He said, exasperated.

She surprised him again by letting out a chocked laugh. "Boyfriend?" She barked, the disbelief not fitting her voice. "I never had the courage to make it that far." Her laughter turned into sobbing, and Kabuto remembered that the girl should be stuttering a great deal more than she was, according to his file on her.

Deciding this may be a slight bit more serious, he asked, "Then what did you lose?" He was legitimately curious; all things human concerned his studies, even the way they worked emotionally. He was always interested in finding new ways mental anguish was caused.

The girl didn't answer for a moment before she sobbed again and said miserably, "Everything. Without him, I'm nothing."

Realizing if he wanted to get this girl vulnerable to being incapacitated swiftly and quietly he would have to get here away from the wall and back to him, the spy pulled out a small handkerchief, offering the article to her. "Dry your eyes." He commanded her. His tone was one fitting of his disguise, kind and wise with experience.

She then seemed to care about who he was masquerading as, standing a little straighter as she took the offered article. She dabbed the corners of her eyes quickly before meeting his own gaze. "I am sorry for my behavior, sir." She said, her voice still shaky and raw.

"Think nothing of it." He said, keeping in character. His curiosity had actually been piqued enough that he was willing to pretend to be sympathetic. "We ninja still have emotions." At least, the poor ones do, he acknowledged to himself. This was why he hadn't formed any new attachments since entering the employment of Orochimaru. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

The ninja needed something to pass the time, after all, and this would do. He expected the girl to break down again and tell him some sob story, but to his surprise, she simply looked contemplative.

After a moment, she looked at him and asked, "What would you do sir, if the thing you valued most in life was taken away from you without warning? What would you if you found yourself with nothing to keep you going from each pointless day to the next?"

He was somewhat taken aback by the question. It was far darker than he had been expecting from the small girl, but a fascinating question all the same. He recalled briefly when he had been put in a similar situation…

"_Please stop! I-I'm sorry, I didn't know!"_

"_Did Nono ask you to stop, I wonder?"_

"When I was put in that situation, I sure the person that took her suffered for both of us." He spoke without much thought. When he realized what he'd said, he looked down and saw the girl's face having grown even more contemplative.

He did not speak for a moment before continuing. "Girl, listen closely." He said, catching her attention. "Revenge isn't what anyone says it is, at least not to me. It's not about getting even for yourself. It's about putting to peace what you lost by ensuring that which destroyed them has paid their penance. Revenge will likely never grant you peace, and what you become when you get it may horrify you." He turned away from her, his head aching as he recalled things he'd long since buried. "But it's all worth it for the thought that what you loved it smiling in its grave."

He did not further meet the girl's eyes. He couldn't, not with his mind whirling with his own pain. The spy had forgotten he'd wanted the girl for experimentation. He walked down the hallway and turned the corner, recalling…

* * *

><p><em>He came back to the village he called home now a man of Orochimaru, no longer loyal to Danzo and his Root organization. He found himself hating Danzo; he didn't like Orochimaru either, but at least for a snake he was a fairly straight shooter.<em>

_He had to check on Nono, make sure she was recovering all right. He hadn't injured her too badly when they'd met a mere fortnight ago, but he still felt worried for her. Just think of the way her flesh had ripped under his knife…_

_It made him sick._

_He leapt from tree to tree, finally coming up on his home. Instead of nostalgia however, he felt only horror._

_Fire engulfed the small town. People were screaming as they were cut down by the swords of bandits. He saw the dango stand where he'd savored small treats as a young boy get knocked over, stained red with the owner's blood. He saw the park he'd played on littered with bodies, swings being pushed aside as children tried in futility to escape bandits. And the orphanage…_

"_The orphanage!" He screamed aloud, the sick realization hitting him. His body moved without his mind willing it, rushing through the streets. He was accosted by a bandit her or there, but they swiftly fell each to a precise cut or stab from his chakra scalpels, leaving the barbaric men bleeding on streets already painted red. He ignored cries for help; he cared truly only for the one thing that reminded him who he truly was._

_He came upon it soon, his earliest memory, Nono's orphanage. It wasn't on fire, a small blessing, but his stomach dropped to his shoes when he saw the door broken off its hinges. He rushed in, hoping not to see the worst._

_Instead, he saw exactly that._

_The bodies of children were everywhere. A few of them were gathered up in the arms of equally dead women, volunteers who had tried and failed to protect their wards. Chairs and furniture were tossed aside, broken in an effort to find something._

_Find something._

_He let out a strangled cry as he realized why this was happening. He ran through the building, his shoes making sickening splashes in puddles of blood. He opened each door he came across, hoping to find survivors, a specific survivor, but each time he found only more bodies – but still, not her body._

'_Be alive Nono!' He thought to himself. Then he heard a crash from down the hall. He sprinted towards the sound, pushing every ounce of speed out of his legs when he heard an all too familiar, high-pitched scream._

_He ran into the room, a second too late as the sound of an axe rending flesh entered his ears._

"_Nono!" He screamed. The bear of a man turned, pulling his axe out of Nono's chest when he did so. She slid down the wall, taking in short, shallow breaths while her eyes glasses over._

"_Missed a kid." The man grunted, walking towards Kabuto and hefting his ax. The boy saw red and rushed forward. Ten years old and only a bit over four feet, he slid easily through the bandits legs, using his scalpels to cut both the brute's Achilles tendons. The bandit screamed in and toppled forward, hitting the ground with a mighty thud._

_The boy didn't really care. He ran to Nono, there had to be something he could do. Part of him acknowledged that was a delusion, but the rest of him told that part to shut the fuck of._

_He kneeled in front of her, looking at the massive cut in her chest. It was fatal, he finally acknowledged. It was too deep, had damaged too many internal organs to survive. She would have been able to defend herself but… She was already injured._

"_Nono!" He sobbed pitifully. She looked at him, seeming to have significant trouble focusing. "Nono, it's me, Kabuto!"_

"_Kabuto?" She questioned, eyes still glassy. Finally she managed to focus, looking at him with a sudden urgency. "Kabuto!" She hissed, obviously in massive amounts of pain. She gripped his shirt with more strength than her condition should have allowed. "Kabuto! The armoire! You have to-" She started coughing up blood, her black dress turning even darker. "Please…" She moaned, her last bit of will running low in the face of the massive pain she must have been feeling. "Keep them safe…" With these words, Nono sighed out her last breath._

_All Kabuto could hear was the sound of ringing, as if his ear drum had just burst. Nono was dead._

_He stood, turning to the armoire Nono had died speaking of. It was large, large enough for an adult to fit in, or perhaps…_

_As he drew close to it he heard crying. He knew what the closet held. Positioning his body to hide the grim scene in the room behind him, he opened the doors. Among the hung clothes there were two little girls, one with bright red hair and pale skin, the other with raven locks. He could tell much of the brunette, who had her face hidden in one of Nono's dresses. The redhead though, she stared at him defiantly._

"_Go away!" She ordered him, a slight quiver in her voice. Kabuto was rather surprised by the girl's strength._

"_It's okay." He said, trying to make his voice sound calm even though he wanted nothing but to scream. "I'm a friend of Nono's. My name is Kabuto."_

_The girl looked at him with some distrust. "Mine is Tayuya. How do you know Nono?" _

"_I used to live here too." Kabuto said. "Then I became a ninja." He looked over his shoulder when the bandit groaned. "Listen Tayuya, Nono wanted me to take you and your friend somewhere safe, but first I need to do something."_

_Tayuya seemed to be a little less on guard. "A ninja?" She asked._

"_Yes." He agreed. "A ninja with a mission. I need to do that mission first. Now, I want you and your friend to close your eyes, cover your ears, and stay in here for a bit while I do that. Then I'll come back and take you somewhere safe, alright?"_

_The girl eyed for a moment before swallowing and nodding. "Alright." She said, sitting down and covering his ears with her hands. "Don't take too long though. It's dark in here and Yujin doesn't like the dark."_

_Taking the other girl to be Yujin, Kabuto nodded and closed the doors, turning on the bandit and emptying his head and heart of emotion. He walked towards the man, each step slow and deliberate._

_Murderer._

"_Who hired you?" Kabuto asked the bandit, kneeling down next to his head._

"_What?" The man asked. In response, Kabuto cut off his ear._

"_Who hired you?" Kabuto asked again as the man screamed. "Your men aren't taking anything, they're just destroying. It's obvious you came in here looking for Nono as well."_

"_Some ninja!" The bandit yelled. "He was wearing all black! I didn't catch his name!"_

_That confirmed it for Kabuto. This attack was Danzo's doing, ensuring that Nono, the last loose end, was tied up. _

_Murderer._

"_Alright, you got what you wanted, now stop! If I'd know she was important to someone like you I wouldn't have done it! I'm sorry, I-I didn't know! Please stop!" The brute howled._

_Kabuto looked into his eyes impassively. "Did Nono ask you to stop, I wonder?" The man's eyes widened as Kabuto raised his scalpel again…_

* * *

><p>The spymaster, back in Konoha again, gripped his head. He hated thinking of that day; every time his mind turned to it he relived it. He had tortured that man for almost an hour, then slaughtered every bandit in the village. Tayuya had become a member of the Sound Four, and Yujin, who had no real talent as a ninja, had been cared for until she was old enough to look after herself. As a personal favor, Orochimaru had arranged for her to end up with her own shop in Rice Country. Kabuto still checked on her on occasion.<p>

The spymaster didn't like remembering that Nono's true killer was still at large; Danzo. So long as Danzo was an ally of Orochimaru, he was untouchable… As the spymaster emerged into the light of the sun, now in the stands of the arena waiting for his master's signal, he sighed.

For now, he was untouchable. After today that would hopefully change. The young man reflected briefly on the Hyuga girl. She had hit a cord in him entirely by accident, and as a result he had forgotten his original goal in at all talking to her. He had even given her legitimate advice instead of saying something that might have pushed her against Konoha. It was rather unfortunate, but that didn't mean the girl was beyond use. He would still attempt to take her during the preliminary stages of the invasion; he'd always wanted to experiment with the Byakugan.

What he didn't realize was his advice had given the impressionable girl just enough to go off of. The girl stood in the hallway he'd left her in, thinking on the words of the strange ANBU captain she had just met. Contemplating. Pondering.

Considering her options.

* * *

><p>Naruto took the last puff his cigarette had left to offer, taping it over the ramp before throwing it in a nearby trash can. The other genin were chattering quietly to each other, or not so quietly in the case of Ino and Kiba. Even Sasuke was speaking with the group, continuing his odd sociable streak.<p>

The blond would've liked to take advantage of that sociable streak to continue talking with his brother, but at the moment he was too focused on upcoming events. He once more shifted his eyes to the kage box, where he knew Sarutobi was sitting next to an S-rank missing ninja would wanted nothing more to kill him.

He was nowhere near their level, but he still worried immeasurably for his adoptive grandfather. The old man was one of the constants in Naruto's life at the moment, along with his team, Ichiraku's Ramen, and Jiraiya of the Sannin to an extent. He didn't want to lose another precious person-

'_Fuck.' _He thought to himself as his breathing constricted. He still couldn't think in those terms. It still hurt too much to even heed that wisdom. He pulled out another cigarette and lit the cancer stick, taking a quick puff. He needed some peace of mind.

The youth turned and walked towards the door. As his fingers closed around the handle, he heard from behind him; "Where are you going Naruto?"

The blonde turned his head and saw Kakashi behind him, the only one who seemed to have noticed his impending departure. The cyclops, who had been leaning next to the door, was looking at him with seemingly impassive eyes, but eyes that were steeled just enough to let the blond know his teacher was asking him as a superior.

"The kage's box." Naruto replied, taking a puff from his cigarette.

"Only the kage and their guards are allowed in there." The jonin reminded him.

In response the blond gave a small shrug. "I'm listed as a guard. The old man left the ledger out, and hey, there's no rule against it."

"Beyond forgery, considering you put your name on it yourself." Kakashi retorted.

"Semantics." Naruto discounted. "Besides, you act as if the old man wouldn't be glad to see me."

His teacher seemed to think for a moment before shrugging and eye-smiling. "Fair point." However, his expression then went back to serious. "Naruto… You've kept secrets from me."

Naruto was silent for a second. "I have." He finally replied.

"Do you still?" Kakashi demanded.

Naruto inhaled deeply, thinking about his reply. "Yes." He said.

The jonin's eye narrowed. "Why?" He asked. "You're my student Naruto. I think it's fair to say this is the type of shit I deserve to know."

The blond felt like sighing, mostly because Kakashi had a point. Everyone had secrets, that was a given, but between a sensei and student the big things like, "I'm a mutant baby who can sprout wings" tended to be treated less like harmless little quirks and more like a big fucking deal. It had a lot to do with field usefulness and trust in the field, but there was also the simple fact that it hurt when someone who was supposed to trust you definitively, who you thought did, was keeping something big from you.

After contemplating his answer for a second, the blond finally said, "I wasn't strong enough for you to know yet."

"Strong enough how?" Kakashi questioned.

"Emotionally." Naruto answered. "Physically. If I reveal to you my last secret, you will treat me different, noticeably so – and yes, you can say you won't, but trust me, you will." The boy cut Kakashi off before he could protest.

The copy-nin was obviously thinking hard, his face tightened almost imperceptibly. Should he push, should he wait? The blond hoped it could wait; Kakashi would have more questions than the blond had the time or patience to answer at the moment.

Finally his sensei's muscles twitched and then relaxed. "If you're sure Naruto. Know I expect full honesty though. I care about you too much to live in the dark like this."

Naruto nodded, knowing he did owe the man that much. The legendary ninja would probably shit his pants when he learned his sensei's son had been hidden under his nose all this time. With these thoughts weighing heavily on his mind, he opened the door to depart for the kage's box.

"Oh, and Naruto?" Kakashi interrupted again. "Make sure you watch Sasuke's match. He's got a few new tricks to show off, and I promise you won't be disappointed."

Naruto only smirked before walking out the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Things are happening, yay, plot and such. Good news, found my old notebook that contained the plot of this thing. Bad news, between work and school and merging the few good ideas from that notebook into the new plot I had made this took forever. The pace probably won't be much better in the coming months, what with real life and such, but know I'll be actively working on this.<strong>

**Also, I think it needs to be stated that this story is essentially co-written by Author00, another user on this site who wrote a fourth of this and to which a good bit of future plot was thought up by him. So certainly a story-by credit. Check out his stuff, he's about as good at updating as I am but for the most part his stuff is worth a glance. He also doesn't give me the answers to our history homework when I don't release fast enough for his liking, so yeah. Thank him for this chapter being readable to you right now.**

**So, read and leave a nice review if you'd like please feed me.**

**24 pages in Microsoft word by the way. This is gonna be epic.**


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